Tascam Portastudio 424 fun

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Jagular

Jagular

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Hehe... I'm getting ready to put my 424 up for sale at ebay, so I just got it out to see how well it still worked. Cleaned it up, degaussed (sp?) it and threw this down quick. Would definitely qualify as a 1.5 submission (and it shows :D). Anyway this is the next song I will be working on a full production for. I just kind of did this as a lark. I may post it as as an example on ebay of how well it works ;). Anyway, all one take, warts and all, voice not ready to go, loose guitar picking.... Guitar is combo of di & mic panned l & r, voice up the middle. I added just a little compression & verb on the puter (nothing I couldn't have done on a non-digital mixdown with the 424 ;). The old 4 trk don't sound too bad :D.

I don't really know how good the song is, but it's one of those "had to writes" because it wouldn't leave me alone. It is a tribute to my Aunt Janice. We shared a birthday and she was quite special to me and to all of my cousins. It's called "Miss Her So"


Miss Her So
 
Nice man. I love "sparse" stuff, so I like this a lot. I'm sure the full blown version will be bigger and stuff, but it'd be hard to be better.

It's late...g'night.
 
hehe..thanks Chris

I don't think this is a particularly good recording and I didn't spend a lot of time trying to make it sound better :D. My picking was really loose, but that's what I get for not playing for so long :D.

There must be a lot of people out there that are being nice. 22 views & 1 reply. The typical ratio is around 10:1 from a quick survey of the board. C'mon...I can take it :D
 
when you tracked the ... dang it, hang on...sheesh.

I'll get this down if it kills me.
 
Well crap. I got busy. I forgot what I was gonna' ask.
 
damn Jag, makes me want to dig out the old 424. Very nice tune. I like it like it is, but I'm sure you will have a great tune when you do it up.
 
Thanks dtb I was actually surprised how “decent” (notice I didn’t say great) it did sound. A lot better than I remember it sounding, but that probably has a bit to do with a better mic. Plus I used to try to cram 3 non-midi instrument parts plus vocals and maybe even some bg vocals by bouncing submixes to one track… It got a little muddy in there :D. I still think this is a decent format for someone just starting out who wants to just record some simple music like acoustic guitar and even possibly writing a sync track and hooking up to a midi source (I used to do this for drums, bass & keys). It got a little hard to mix all that, but, hey, it worked. I should dig out an old recording I did that way and re-listen to it. That would kind of be fun :D

Chris – thanks for getting me back to the mean post to view ratio ;) :D LMAO
 
Jag.... OMG. This song sounds great!! Nice story. Sad. But nice. I love your voice. What kind of mic did you use for the vocal??
 
Last edited:
Pacifica604w said:
Jag.... OMG. This song sounds great!! Nice story. Sad. But nice. I love your voice. What kind of mic did you use for the vocal??
Click to expand...

Thanks man :D

The mic I have I don't think is all that great, but I bought it before I was edumicated on the matter. ;) :D Next mic I buy will probably be a SP C-1 or B-3 (because I'm still on a very tight budget). My vocal chain is pretty low budget, I really look forward to singing into a better mic and preamp. I would be excited to hear the results. Oh well....for now....

Vocal chain

AKG C535B > M-Audio Audio Buddy > Alesis 3630 compressor > recorder > SBLive sound card (stereo mix sent)
 
4 thumbs up (if you count the ones on my feet)

Nice job John,
Very pleasant listen. Very good dynamics.
I usually avoid the sensitive side of New Country because it's too too......you know schmaltzy (sp?). But, to me, this is just right.
Please, if you ever fill this out with bass, drums, electric guits etc., leave the first verse as is, please. Great mood setter.
Stretch this out to over 3mins., put it on an album with some s..tkickers, ala Brad Paisley, and I'd buy it. But, after all,
what do I know?
Bill
 
Re: 4 thumbs up (if you count the ones on my feet)

Bill Assumpcao said:
Nice job John,
Very pleasant listen. Very good dynamics.
I usually avoid the sensitive side of New Country because it's too too......you know schmaltzy (sp?). But, to me, this is just right.
Please, if you ever fill this out with bass, drums, electric guits etc., leave the first verse as is, please. Great mood setter.
Stretch this out to over 3mins., put it on an album with some s..tkickers, ala Brad Paisley, and I'd buy it. But, after all,
what do I know?
Bill
Click to expand...

Thanks...I'll keep that production tip in mind. I know I could easily get into overproducing stuff with all these neat digital tools :D.

Hey, and Brad Paisley's buddy Kelley Lovelace (who has had a rather nice string of hit songs recently for Brad & others) lives just down the street from me. I haven't met him yet, but maybe someday...hmmm...maybe I should make him a casserole and take it down to him :D:D
 
I know you wouldn't think i liked this kinda stuff by listening to that crap i post:) , but i'm a big fan of this type of music too. "Strong" and very nice vocals you got there man, i'll keep my ears open for this one. Thanks

btw, very cool song.
 
I think that's a very good sound, coming from a 424.

4-track is great for those simple little productions. Cassette [IMO] can give quite a good sound, if used to it's optimum signal level, which I think you achieved quite well here.
 
That s a good story too. The song has substance. You could really produce this. The recording is very good, I thought I was gonna hear something like my old vesta-fire. Good stuff man.
 
David - Thanks man. I've heard your stuff here and crap is the last thing that would come to mind. I'm looking forward to producing this one a little more. If nothing else it will be a tear jerker at the next family reunion. :( :)

Reel Person - hehe…it was kind of fun to break this thing back out again. And yeah I got a pretty hot signal in there. A little too hot in a couple of places ;) :D. Makes me kind of think twice about unloading it, but I want to get either a Delta 1010lt or an OK pair of powered monitors and the proceeds for this will help get there quicker (I just haven't decided on which to get first yet) :D.

Toki - Thanks for the comment on the song. I really wasn't sure if this would be something anyone but my family and I would identify with. It's good to hear that some others do. Hehe…I should dig up some of my old 4 trk "produced" songs. It would be kind of funny I think :D
 
Nice and shining tribute sir.

If you're upgrading your stand alone recorder to digital, your tunes will surely sound clean and tight if this stellar example of analog is any indication.


Nice song and production,








Beware of the red,,,,,,,,,,beware of the red;)

Peace,

Theron.
 
very nice Jugular.. that is a great sound for a 4 track cassette.. I wouldn't sell it if I were you.. You probably won't get too much for it, and it could be worth more to you than the few bucks you'll get for it..

You never know when you'll need a backup recorder,or when your computer is gonna crash..

nice sound and song..
 
Nice job. Good performance (singing and guitar). The beginning reminds me of some of the stuff from a Lyle Lovett album named "I Love Everybody".

Keep the 4-track. It can make a great portable scratch pad for jotting down ideas - especially if the 424 can run on batteries.

Question: I'm currently in the process of TRYING to record a mic'd acoustic. I've always simply done it direct. What was your reasoning for mixing mic'd and direct?

Thanks - BPOCO
 
Theron – Thanks man. I appreciate it. I already record to my computer. I just broke this out quick to make sure it works right before I sell it. I’m actually selling it to save up for an upgrade of my sound card (I’m currently using a SBLive which was ok for starters, but I’m quickly reaching it’s limitations). And what’s wrong with red? I love that warm overdriven sound of digital distortion ;) :D ACK!!!!

B.Sabbath – Thanks. I’ve been watching ebay and I’m hoping to get about $100 for it. I’ve seen some sell for more, some less. I’ll probably set a reserve of at least $80 though because I don’t want it selling for say, $50. At that price it wouldn’t be worth selling. I could keep it around for a little mixing board or something, or like you said a back up scratch pad if the puter borks on me. But if I can get $80 - $120 for it, I really need to upgrade my sound card (or maybe get some monitors…hmmm…decisions, decisions). :D

Bpoco – Thanks. Believe it or not, I’m not all that familiar with Lyle Lovett’s stuff. Really only what I’ve heard on the radio or other casual hearings of his work. But I consider that quite a compliment. See answer above on keeping the 4 trk ;). It is a possibility :D. Especially since I never considered the battery aspect. My rationale for simultaneous recording of the di & mic’d guitar is twofold. First, I was just doing it quickly so in order to spread the guitar sound out across the stereo field, I wanted to have two signals. This was the quickest way to do it. Secondly, the other option would have been to record the guitar mic’d twice and pan one left and one right. My playing isn’t consistent enough to do this without great pain :D. Besides, I have found that the di of my guitar isn’t too bad sounding if it’s tweaked with a little eq and mixed with a mic’d version. Next recording I do though, I’m going to spend a lot more time trying to get a nicer acoustic gtr sound. The combination of my guitar (Ovation Celebrity – kind of twangy & bright) my mic (AKG C535B – not really sure how good of mic this is) and my lack of knowledge is making it hard for me to find a nice full sound.
 
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